In hospitals and long-term care facilities (“facility”), there has always been a need for a means of communication between a patient's bedside and the nursing care personnel (“nurse”) charged with the care and supervision of the patient. In the past, such communication was necessarily effected by means of hard-wired connection between the patient's bedside and the nursing care station. Because the intervening space is typically in a high traffic area, this hard-wired connection frequently had to be routed behind walls and through overhead ducts, which generally entailed considerable installation expense and effort, and was not conducive to upgrade and/or repair.
The advent of wireless telecommunications devices such as pagers has significantly reduced the need for such hard-wired connections, at a reduced cost and resulting in simpler installation and repair, while permitting greater flexibility to the nurses. At the patient bed-side, the call button may be connected (through the telephone system or otherwise) to a transmitter that is programmed to generate a page to a specific and unique telephone number.
Such telephone number is associated with a wireless pager, so that a call from the patient's bedside (patient call) may be communicated to the pager automatically. As with most pager systems, the receipt of a patient call may be communicated audibly, by a visual cue such as a flashing indicator and/or in tactile fashion such as by a vibrating signal. The nurse may manipulate the display of messages and otherwise control the management of the pager by applying pressure to one or more buttons on the face of the pager, or optionally, by applying pressure on designated points of a touch screen display on the pager.
Additionally, the transmitter may optionally be configured to provide certain information, such as the date and time of day, the identification of the patient and/or room and/or bed number and may even be configured to permit a brief text or voice message to communicate the reason for the patient call. More sophisticated systems may permit multiple patient calls, for example from a common ward or floor, to be routed to a single pager, or alternatively, for more than one pager to receive a given patient call.
One of the great advantages afforded by such a wireless system is the portability of the pager. With hard-wired connection systems, the patient call may only be received at the nursing care station, where the receiver is located. In a long-term care and/or hospital facility, the nurses are generally required to travel throughout the facility, in order to deal with patients and their needs. Thus, it is likely that there may be a significant percentage of time that the appropriate nurse is not present at the nursing care station when a patient call is made. Thus, delays in processing the patient call are inherent in such systems.
With a pager-based system, the pager may be held or worn by a designated nurse having responsibility for the patient wherever he or she may be, so that the delay in receiving the patient call is obviated. The range of such pagers is such that the designated nurse may be anywhere within the facility and still receive the patient call.
However, the portability of the pager poses new problems. Typically, the work of nurses requires extension and a large degree of movement. They usually carry one or more objects in their hands and may travel in a hurry and through cramped spaces. Thus, it is not uncommon for pagers to be clipped to uniforms. Despite this precaution, there is a significant possibility that the pager will be dropped.
The problem is compounded by the fact that nurses frequently operate in proximity to water, whether in the form of a therapeutic swimming pool, a bathtub, toilet, sink or bedpan or a spill. Additionally, the nurses are frequently covered in other fluids, such as beverages or even blood and other bodily fluids. If such fluids come into contact with the pager, the delicate electronic circuitry could be irreparably affected.
As well, most facilities eschew the use of carpeting on their floor surfaces for a number of reasons, including issues of hygiene. As a result, in such facilities, the floor surfaces are often hard and bare, such as concrete or hardwood. Thus, the facility tends to be a harsh environment from the point of view of the pagers worn by the nurses.
Because the pagers have a significant per-unit cost, and because the nature of their application requires specific programming and mandates that they remain in operating condition, the cost of a broken pager due to dropping and/or water damage is considerable.
Moreover, as nurses go on and off-shift, it is not uncommon to forget to transfer over equipment used during the shift. In most cases, the equipment is personal to the nurse, or else can be easily substituted when such an omission occurs. However, in the case of the patient call pagers, such an occurrence could have significant deleterious effects. For example, a patient could initiate an urgent patient call, which would only be received by an off-duty nurse, and conceivably a considerable distance away from the facility.
Furthermore, as nurses regularly change wards and areas of responsibility, the portability of pagers may result in improper distribution of the pagers at any given time, again with potentially disastrous consequences.
A number of attempts have been made to provide enclosures for pocket pagers that are water- and/or shock-resistant.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,524 issued Feb. 29, 2002 to Kunert discloses a complicated user-replaceable component assembly, which permits replacement of components and devices such as portable electronic devices. An environmental seal is provided around the components to protect the inner circuitry of the electronic device. Shock-resistant mounting of the display panel beneath the keypad and accommodation for the electric connection between the keypad and the portable electronic device's inner circuitry is provided. However, Kunert requires the provision of a keypad on the enclosure, which is electrically connected to and substitutes for the keypad of the portable electronic device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,646,864 issued Nov. 11, 2003 to Richardson discloses a protective case for an electronic device that has a touch screen. The touch screen is protected with a membrane adapted to the specific contour and profile of the electronic device and allows the user to use a touch screen interface with no shortcomings. The protective case is further adapted to allow infra-red and other communication signals while the device is secured inside the case. Further, electrical connections can be made through the case without affecting the protection afforded the electronic device inside. The enclosure is in the form of a hinged clamshell device with external ribs that prevent torsional stresses thereon and internal foam inserts for shock-relief. Keypad and touch screen input may be through a sheet of thin plastic disposed within an opening in the enclosure and sealed in water-resistant fashion by the interposition of an O-ring between it and the enclosure opening. Thus, in assembling the enclosure, a number of components must be maintained in position simultaneously, which may be problematic, especially in a high-traffic environment such as at a facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,274 issued Dec. 9, 2003 to Enners discloses a container for a PDA comprising a three dimensional enclosure open at one end and through which the PDA can be inserted. A clear rubber screen is positioned over the touch screen of the PDA, to provide touch point access thereto. The opening in the enclosure can be capped by a cover having an O-ring across an internal projection, which matingly engages with the open end of the cover to provide a water-resistant seal. The rubber screen is integral with or permanently affixed to the enclosure, which provides significant difficulties in construction and precludes the replacement of the screen in the event of a tear or rupture. As well, the use of clear rubber would appear to significantly increase the cost of construction. Furthermore, the material may not be highly conducive to accurate data entry therethrough, or to visibility of the visual outputs of the pager.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,119 issued May 30, 2000 to Derr et al discloses a waterproof protective device for holding an apparatus having an interaction field formed from a dimensionally stable protective housing having lower and upper housing parts. The two parts are releasably hingedly connected together and an inside contour of the protective housing is adapted and constructed to closely receive the apparatus with approximately no play. The protective housing is provided with a transparent elastically flexible operating area of reduced wall thickness to enable an interaction field to be viewed and manipulated while encased within the enclosure. A seal is provided between the two parts in the form of a mating circumferential groove and rim, one or both of which may be provided with lips. Derr et al's apparatus renders it awkward to insert the pager into and remove the pager from the enclosure. A separate pusher must be used to urge the pager out of the enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,256 issued Jun. 6, 1989 to Meliconi discloses a shock-proof protective sheath for television remote controls, which comprises a hollow container and holder element, embodied in shock proof material that substantially matches and hugs the external profile of the appliance it encompasses. It is provided with at least two openings, one of which affords access to the remote control's push buttons and the other of which allows passage of the controlled pulses. The window on the front of the sheath, corresponding to the push buttons of the remote control is covered by a thin plastic material, welded or affixed by adhesive strip to the edges of the opening in the sheath, which allows buttons to be pressed while maintaining water tightness. Again, the permanent attachment of the window within the sheath increases the difficulty and cost of construction and precludes easy replacement of the screen in the event of a tear or a rupture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,852 issued Feb. 20, 1990 to King discloses a protective cover for pagers comprising a film of transparent stretchable material (e.g. 595HC silicon plastic) formed to cover the top, four sides and at least a portion of the bottom of a pager. The cover includes accordion-type pleats, which are positioned to reside adjacent switches, a belt clip and the like, to allow operation thereof. While some modicum of watertightness may be provided, subject to the size and positioning of openings in the enclosure, King's enclosure provides no means of shock-resistance.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D455,730 issued Apr. 16, 2002 to Hakim-Nelson discloses a case of a certain dimension adapted to fit the pager, constructed of an entirely transparent material. Protrusions are provided to accommodate push buttons. Access to the enclosure is through a removable door. Again, there appears to be only minimal shock-resistance to Hakim-Nelson's enclosure.
Finally, PCT International Application No. PCT/FI03/00434 published Dec. 11, 2003 in the name of Bordi discloses a case where an electronic device includes a watertight and at least partly transparent case body substantially corresponding to the shape of the electronic device, the case being open at one end, as well as the lid watertightly closing the open end of the case body. It also includes an annular intermediate part on which both the case body and the lid are supported and to which they can be latched. The case body includes an annular supporting surface and the lid includes an annular pressure contact area, so that when closing the lid, the sealing flange is pressed in between the supporting surface and the pressure contact area thereby closing the space defined by the lid and the case body.